Ends tomorrow

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Teachers were on the picket line bright and early Tuesday morning at Lord Byng Secondary at 16th Ave and Wallace Street in Vancouver, B.C., waving to passing motorists to the sound of honking horns.

Photograph by: Kim Stallknecht
, PNG

The school year appears increasingly unlikely to start on time, although early Tuesday evening the Ministry of Education confirmed a meeting is expected to take place Wednesday in Victoria between Education Minister Peter Fassbender, B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker and the government’s negotiator Peter Cameron.

A teachers’ federation spokesman said Iker would not be commenting, citing an ongoing media blackout, though he said Iker had been in touch with the province’s lead negotiator.

But negotiations have not resumed and picket lines went up Tuesday morning outside several Metro Vancouver schools.

Teachers have already lost two weeks’ pay plus 10 per cent of their salary for last spring’s job action.

Some have resorted to mounting losses by dipping into savings or lines of credit, taking on multiple odd jobs and relying on relatives. Others are organizing activities like children’s arts camps, according to Jessica Jang, who has been teaching for two years.

But it’s possible schools won’t be closed too far into September. A deal could be reached, or the employer could apply to the Labour Relations Board, arguing that essential service levels have been breached.

In September 2011, a Labour Relations Board decision written by Mark J. Brown found that schools could be closed for up to two weeks without “serious and immediate disruption to the provision of educational programs.” A similar ruling has not been sought in the current dispute.

Beyond two weeks, Brown ruled that disruption to education would vary depending on a student’s grade or the time of year in which the disruption occurred. But even at that point, he would allow teachers to strike one day a week, with their pay reduced accordingly.

A return to a partial strike is not completely out of the question ­— teachers in Vancouver were sent a survey asking if they supported continuing the full strike, moving to a rotating strike or returning to work under a work-to-rule regime. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation said many locals sent out a similar survey, but it would not disclose the results.

A group of teachers outside the Vancouver school board Tuesday said class size and composition remain the primary sticking points.

They said the government must figure out a way to fund enough staff to give proper attention to children with learning disabilities, behavioural disorders, mild mental disabilities, students for whom English is a second language and children considered “gifted.”

Stephanie Koropatnick, a district-level teacher with 25 years experience, said she believes the public education system would face dangerous consequences if the teachers relent.

“If we go much further (with the strike), I may have to either sell my home or default on my mortgage,” she said, noting she was unable to find alternate employment over the summer.

“On the other hand, I know that if I don’t stand firm with my colleagues, disaster looms. There is no way we can back down on this.”

Myrne Ross said it’s the teachers’ anger at the government that is keeping them united.

“People are feeling that this is really our time to be standing up. It is now about public education,” said the 20-year teacher, while adding she’s partly in shock the conflict has dragged out so long.

They said they are essentially satisfied at the government’s latest wage offer, but wants to know they haven’t “signed away” rights to bargain classroom conditions. The B.C. Supreme Court has ruled provisions related to those issues were illegally stripped from the teachers’ contract 12 years ago.

While a media blackout covers negotiations, there was speculation on social media that a B.C. Public School Employers’ proposal related to the court case might be holding up the bargaining process.

Part of the BCPSEA proposal E 81 states that “(w)ithin 60 days of the ultimate judicial decision, either party may give written notice to the other of termination of the collective agreement. If notice is given, the collective agreement terminates at the end of that school year, unless the ultimate judicial decision occurs after the end of February, in which case the termination takes place at the end of the following school year.”

When the proposal was introduced back in June, chief negotiator Peter Cameron and Public Service Employer’s Council representative Lee Doney said in a news conference that the clause was instituted as an interim solution until the B.C. Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada make their ruling.

“I think that’s a very pragmatic and creative way to deal with a problem that both parties are stuck on. It says, ‘Let’s put it on the back burner and when we see the ultimate decision we can decide whether we want to renegotiate from there,’” Doney said, according to a transcript of the news conference.

But Mark Thompson, professor emeritus of industrial relations at the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business, said the risk of this clause outweighs any benefit for the province’s 40,000 teachers.

“Somebody is going to be dissatisfied with the outcome at the court,” Thompson said. “This gives the government another kick at the can.”

Meanwhile, a poll conducted by Insights West and commissioned by the B.C. Federation of Labour shows 52 per cent of respondents support the teachers, while 37 per cent support the government. Of those with children in the school system, 60 per cent support the teachers, the poll found.

The same poll found that 86 per cent of respondents agree or strongly agree that if a negotiated agreement cannot be reached by Sept. 2, the two sides should send all outstanding issues to the mediator to make recommendations to end the dispute.

Further, the poll found that 79 per cent of respondents either agree or strongly agree that the B.C. government should invest in public education to reduce class size and increase support for kids with special needs. About three-quarters of respondents think the $40 a day that will be paid to parents would be better spent reinvested in the education system.

The online survey of 811 people conducted Aug. 22 to 24. Insights West said the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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